The log cabin above is
similar to the one in which Massy Harbison lived. Our
chapter has placed a DAR sign on the property, which is owned by the City
of New Kensington. It is located at Oates Boulevard and Route 56
near Valley High School, and is called Massa Harbison Park.

On May 22, 1792, Massy,
(sometimes spelled Massa, Massy, or Massey in various accounts), was asleep
in her cabin when Munsee and Seneca Indians entered it. Her husband
was a spy for the American army and was not home at the time. Massy
held her year old baby in her arms. Her three and five year
old boys were with her. The Indians scalped one boy immediately for
putting up a fight and refusing to go with them. As they dragged
Massy and her children out of the cabin, she saw a neighbor getting water
from a well. She screamed. He saw that the
family was being kidnapped and ran into the
nearby fort to alert the inhabitants.

The
Indians forced Massy to march for two days
toward what is now Butler, PA. A second son was scalped on the march
for making crying noises. She overheard
the Indians talking about their friend, Simon Girty.
Girty, who had once been on the American side in the Revolutionary War,
was now working for the British. On the second night Massy escaped
with the baby. For the next four days she tried to get back to the
settlement.

Finally, bruised,
terrified, starving, sunburned, and her bare feet punctured by over one
hundred and fifty thorns, Massy reached the shore of the Allegheny River.
She called out to three white men on the other shore. One, who was
her nearest neighbor, did not recognize her either "by her countenance,
or by her voice"* she had changed so much in six days. She and the
baby survived. She reported to the American army that Simon Girty
could no longer be trusted. The Americans
were then able to take the fort at Detroit based on the intelligence Massy
provided.